Yesterday, he cooked his heart out on the show, facing the other remaining finalists, where he cleaned their plates.

Padilla, executive chef at Legacy Restaurants, including Ninfa’s and Antone’s Famous Po’ Boys, qualified to make it to New York after being named ABC13 and “The Chew’s” Best Chef on the Block for Houston in January.

The judges for the local cook-off included ABC13’s Katherine Whaley, CultureMap food editor Eric Sandler, Sylvia Casares from Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen and Peter Montalvo from the Houston Food Bank.